WALES' leading theme park is looking to invest £3m in a new roller coaster ride which is expected to drive up visitor numbers by nearly 10% annually.

WALES' leading theme park is looking to invest £3m in a new roller coaster ride which is expected to drive up visitor numbers by nearly 10% annually.

Oakwood, headed by managing director Patrick McNamara, will soon launch its new summer season, with a turnover forecast of £6.5m and around 400,000 visitors.

However, as part of a move to tap into the lucrative younger M4 corridor market, the Pembrokeshire park is looking to invest in a new steel rollercoaster ride this winter.

Scheduled for completion in time for its 2005 summer season it will rival the biggest and most popular rides at Alton Towers and Thorpe Park in England.

At this stage there are no precise details on the scale of the proposed ride, but Oakwood promises it will have one of the best "thrill factors" of any roller coaster in the world

Mr McNamara said, "At the moment we are viewed as a lovely place with some worldclass rides, but at the same time not having that massive ride which other parks like Alton and Thorpe have.

"They attract a hardcore of the teenage market, which we will be able to break into with this new ride."

Only 33% of Oakwood's visitors come from outside of Wales.

Mr NcNamara said the new ride would add an estimated 20,000 visitors a year, while generating an increase in revenue of around £500,000.

Last season the company posted pre-tax profits of £700,000.

Mr McNamara, who has an majority equity stake in the business, said he had no plans to sell the park, saying the proposed roller coaster investment represented just one of a number of new "successful chapters" in the Oakwood story.

He added, "After a difficult period we have been slowly increasing turnover over the last two years.

"I am hugely enthusiastic about the business. We are experiencing fairly dramatic profit growth. However, what is missing at the moment is a big ride, which we will put in place this winter.

"At the moment the company is going well and I have no plans to sell, but who knows what will happen in the future."

As part of the proposed Dragon International Film Studios project near Bridgend, its backers have plans for a theme park, which they are confident will attract one million visitors a year.

It is understood that the project has been given an indicative offer of regional selective assistance of £6m for the Welsh Assembly Government.

Mr McNamara said, "I have always been a keen promoter of Wales and West Wales and the more complementary attractions we have in Wales the better. However, we spent £15m developing Oakwood, but only received 6.5% of that cost in grants.

"We invest a great deal back into the business and it is a shame that the powers that be don't recognise more the impact that indigenous businesses have in driving the economy."

Oakwood opened in 1987 when the introduction of milk quotas led the McNamara family to diversify into the leisure industry.